Agents of Good Roots

The Richmond, Virginia quartet Agents of Good Roots fused raw-edged roots rock with jazz and funk to emerge as one of the East Coast club circuit’s standout acts during the second half of the 1990s. Core membership stabilized in 1995 around singer, guitarist, and keyboardist Andrew Winn—whose distinctive smoky delivery traces to a severe throat injury sustained in a skiing mishap at fourteen—alongside drummer Brian Jones, bassist Stewart Myers, and saxophonist J.C. Kuhl. By maintaining an exhaustive touring pace exceeding two hundred dates annually, the band built a loyal regional audience on the same Virginia club routes that had earlier launched Dave Matthews Band. After issuing their first two albums independently, Agents of Good Roots secured a deal with RCA, resulting in the 1998 major-label debut One By One; that record yielded the radio singles “Come On” and “Smiling Up the Frown,” with the latter reaching number two on the Billboard Modern Rock chart. The group returned in April 2000 with Needle and Thread.